1. Geometric Control of Cell Life and Death Christopher S. Chen, Milan Mrksich, Sui Huang, George M. Whitesides, and Donald E. Ingber Science, 1997 Michael Batista 1,2 Brian Carvalho 1,3 Department of Biological Engineering, MIT Department of Material Science Engineering, MIT Department of Physics, MIT

2. The Capabilities of Cancer Hanahan and Weinberg, Cell, Vol. 100, 57-70, 2000 Siemann DW., Vascular targeting agents. Horizons in Cancer Therapeutics: From Beach to Bedside. 2002;3(2):4-15

3. Apoptosis: ECM Adhesion vs. Cell Geometry Integrins: Transduce mechanical stimuli into/out of the cell Proliferation Cell Shape: Implicated in triggering apoptosis independent of ECM 4.5µm 100µm

4. Cell Spreading and ECM Exposure Inhibits Apoptosis Nucle i Differences in cell curvature, bead engulfment, and ECM contact area confound the trend in B Restricting cells to flat pads eliminates these complications

5. Apoptosis: Effect of Cell Surface Area Holding ECM contact area constant does not change survival effect of increasing cell surface area. Pad Size: Pad Spacing

6. Apoptosis: Effect of Integrin Binding β-1 Ligand β-3 Ligand

7. Conclusions

8. Current Work: Mechanotransduction ApoptosisDifferentiationAnti-Apoptosis Mammary Epithelial LIF JAK/STAT3 MSCs RhoA ROCK Osteocytes Src ERK

9. Questions